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The Reds placed catcher Brayan Pena on the paternity list before Sunday's game and recalled Tucker Barnhart from Triple-A Louisville.

In an unrelated matter, Joey Votto was out of the lineup. Well actually, it is related. Because Pena was unavailable, the only alternative the Reds have with Votto out is to play Ramon Santiago at third base and move third baseman Todd Frazier to first.

"For Joey, it's just a day off," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "We're trying to be conscientious of the fact that he's playing well below 100 percent right now. We're keeping him as healthy as we can under the circumstances, which are challenging. He's got some challenges physically. I thought that it was a good idea to give him a day off today."

This is Votto's third day out of the lineup in the last nine games. He is struggling at the plate as he deals with his knee/quad problem. Votto went 0-for-4 Saturday with three strikeouts. He's 1-for-his-last-11 and 6-for-37 over his last 11 games.

"We knew when he got him back from the disabled list that we weren't going to be able to get him to 100 percent in the regular season," Price said. "We decided to do some strengthening exercises and really worked on getting inflammation and soreness out of there. We accomplished that to a certain degree. But we knew we couldn't get him to 100 percent.

"Some days are better than others. This was my decision today not to play him. I stay in contact to Joey on how he's feeling. He didn't ask to come out. I just thought it was a good day to give him a breather and re-assess and get ready for tomorrow."

The Reds have been playing with four bench players for the last two weeks. They will likely continue to do so until Tuesday's doubleheader.

"We're kind of in that position now where we have that doubleheader," Price said. "We have to get to that doubleheader date to see if we're best served with having the eight bullpen guys rather than having the five bench players. I think we have a couple of days to assess where we're best suited -- based on what happens today and tomorrow will largely dictate our roster for Tuesday.

"We haven't been overexposed with the four-man bench. That being said, we'll have that point in time where we'll wish we have that fifth bench player. That's the inevitability of the season."

Reds general manger Walt Jocketty said last week the Reds aren't shopping for a backup first baseman. With Jack Hannahan out for at least another two weeks, that means playing Pena or Santiago when Votto is rested.

That's a huge drop in offense, especially with Santiago. Santiago's career on-base plus slugging is .689. Votto's is .960.

Pena's wife is having a baby. He returned to Florida to be with her.

"We knew that was happening," Price said. "We didn't know exactly when. I got a couple of texts very early this morning that she had gone into labor. He's making his way down to Florida to be with his family."

The break came at a good time for Pena. He's "banged up." The Reds haven't said specifically what is wrong with him.

"We wanted to give him a couple of days off," Price said. "He'll get that for sure."